A team to keep the neighbourhood pond clean

In many neighbourhoods the pond is where people bathe and wash dishes and clothes, yet polythene, bottles and rubbish float on it and the banks crumble. The idea: with the owner’s or committee’s permission, a few people spend one day a month lifting the floating rubbish and clearing the banks. Keep a rubbish basket on the bank. Ask everyone to stop washing pesticide bottles in the pond or letting toilet waste into it. Safety first: only adults who can swim go into the water, never children, and keep a long bamboo pole or a rope on the bank.